In a divided 4-3 ruling, the California Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional state laws limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples.1 The case arose out of San Francisco’s move, back in 2004, to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. The decision was immediately challenged, and the California Supreme Court ruled then that the marriages were invalid in the absence of a court determination that the California statutes limiting marriage to male-female unions are unconstitutional.
Now, the California Supreme Court has made that determination, and same-sex couples could begin applying for marriage licenses as early as mid-June. The high court ruled that allowing opposite-sex couples to marry while affording same-sex couples access only to domestic partnership status violates a same-sex couple’s constitutional right to marry and violates equal protection guarantees.
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The new decision, however, doesn’t lay to rest the controversy over gay marriage in California. Opponents have collected signatures to place a constitutional amendment on the November ballot, stating that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”
In an upcoming issue of California Employer Advisor, we’ll have full details on this case and its implications for California workplaces. Stay tuned.
1 In re Marriage Cases, Calif. Supreme Court No. S147999, 2008
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